UC Berkeley Mass Timber Design Tour
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Join us for a tour co-sponsored by AIA East Bay and AIA San Francisco!
In alignment with UC Berkeley’s commitment to sustainability, Undergraduate Academic Building (UAB) utilizes mass timber for the first time on campus, significantly reducing the building’s carbon footprint. The building's design has been thoughtfully planned to seamlessly blend in with the natural surroundings. The Undergraduate Academic Building is an L-shaped structure with a five-story wing along Campanile Way and a three-story wing facing Dwinelle Hall. It will include office space, meeting rooms, and collaboration areas in the upper levels and will house more than 10 percent of the general assignment classrooms on the campus when completed in the lower levels.
The project design team includes LMN Architects and TEF Design, Forell Elsesser Engineers, Sherwood Design Engineers, Introba, Hargreaves Jones, NV5, and Atelier 10. Plant Construction is the General Contractor.
About Our Tour Guides
Alyosha Verzhbinsky, FAIA, TEF Design
Alyosha brings 30+ years of experience in the design and construction of institutional work, bringing technical expertise, precision, and management rigor to his assignments. His portfolio includes notable projects such as the award-winning UC Berkeley C.V. Starr East Asian Library, a collaboration with Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects, and the UC San Diego Health Shiley Eye Institute. In addition to UC Berkeley's Undergraduate Academic Building, Alyosha is currently leading the conversion of a cold shell commercial building into a cutting-edge satellite location for the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry + Vision Science. He combines technical proficiency with a deep understanding of institutional needs, delivering highly functional, user-centered spaces that consistently exceed client expectations.
Masume Dana, SE, Forell Elsesser Engineers
Masume brings over 18 years of expertise in structural engineering for the built environment. Her experience spans all major construction materials and advanced seismic systems. Masume leads mass timber design at Forell Elsesser and is the Project Manager for UC Berkeley Undergraduate Academic Building, leveraging her knowledge of this sustainable material to create an efficient, high-performance structure. She has worked on multiple projects at UC Berkeley including Bakar BioEnginuity Hub the adaptive reuse of old Berkeley Art Museum to lab and office space, BAMPFA in downtown Berkeley, and Heathcock Hall the new expansion of the College of Chemistry.
Lauren Marshall, Project Manager, Plant Construction
Lauren has nearly a decade of construction experience working as a General Contractor, lending her critical thinking and management skills to each project she is assigned. She spent her first five years in the industry as an APM and PM for Harvey-Cleary Builders, based in Bethesda, Maryland. Her background has been rooted in core-and-shell building including projects ranging from $75 million, mixed use commercial projects in Washington, DC to $250 million health care centers for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Virginia. Shortly after Lauren joined Plant in 2022, she became an integral part of the $115 million, design-assist, mass timber project known as the UC Berkley Undergraduate Academic Building. She will continue in her role as Project Manager through project completion in late 2025.
Available for 1.5 LUs
Photography credit: Bruce Damonte, courtesy of LMN Architects.